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Hadiths of the Prophet
Fourteen hundred years ago, the Prophet Muhammad (saas) related a
number of secrets concerning the Doomsday, and of his thoughts about
it, to his Muslim companions. These valuable words have been passed
down from generation to generation to the present day in the form of
books of hadiths and works of Islamic scholars. The hadiths used in
the coming sections of this book contain such information given by the
Prophet (saas) in this regard.
At this point, there may arise some doubt in the reader in regards
to the truth and authenticity of these hadiths about the end. It is
a recognized fact that, in the past, there had been a number of fabricated
hadiths falsely attributed to the Prophet (saas), but the hadiths that
form the subject of our inquiry will be easily recognized as issuing
from the Prophet (saas). There is a method to distinguish those that
are true from those that are false. As we know, hadiths about the Doomsday
relate to events that are to take place in the future. For this reason,
when a hadith comes true in the course of time, all doubt as to the
source of the words is removed.
Several Islamic scholars who conducted research on
the subject of the End Times and of the signs of the Last Day have used
this criterion. An expert on the subject, Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, said
that the fact that the hadiths concerning the End Times correspond to
events observed in our day shows the truth of the hadiths.4
Some of the signs related in the hadiths were observable in some part
of the world in any period during the 1400 year history of Islam, but
that would not have proven that that period was the the End Times. For
a certain period to be called the End Times, all the signs of the Last
Day must be observed to be occurrence in that same period. This is expressed
in a hadith:
Signs following one another like the pieces of a necklace falling
one after the other when its string is cut.(Tirmidhi)
When we examine the End Times in the light of the information related
above, we come up with a surprising conclusion. The signs that the Prophet
(saas) described in detail are occurring one after the other in every
corner of the world, just in the way they were described in the age
in which we live. It is so that the hadiths paint a perfect portrait
of our time. This is indeed a miracle, and demands careful consideration.
Every sign that occurs is to remind people once again that the Doomsday
is very near, a day when they will give account of themselves in the
presence of Allah, and therefore, that they should immediately apply
the moral values of the Qur'an to their lives.
War and Anarchy
In a hadith, the Prophet (saas) described the End Times in this way:
Allah's Messenger (saas) said:
"The Harj (will increase)." They asked, "What is the Harj?" He replied,
"(It is) killing (murdering), (it is) murdering (killing)."(Bukhari)
The meaning of harj mentioned in the above hadith of the Prophet Muhammad
(saas) is "utter confusion" and "disorder," which is not to be limited
to one particular area, but will be widespread throughout the world.
Again, on this topic, the following words of the Prophet (saas) have
come down to us:
The Hour will come when violence, bloodshed, and anarchy become
common.(Al-Muttaqi Al-Hindi, Muntakhab Kanzul Ummaal)
The world will not come to an end until a day would come to the
people on which there will be general massacre and bloodshed.(Muslim)
When we examine the above hadiths, we are led to an important conclusion.
The Prophet (saas) described conflicts, chaos, murder, war to involve
the whole earth, and outbreaks of terror, and revealed that these events
are signs of the Last Day.
If we look at the last fourteen centuries, we see that wars were regional
before the twentieth century. However, wars that affected everyone in
the world, political systems, entire economies and social structures,
have happened only comparatively recently, in the two world wars. In
World War I, more than 20 million died; in World War II, the toll was
more than 50 million. At the same time, World War II is acknowledged
to have been the bloodiest, the greatest and the most destructive war
in history.
Modern military technology, including nuclear, biological and chemical
weapons, have increased the effects of war to an extent never before
seen in history. Because of the weapons of mass destruction that have
been developed, it is commonly accepted that the world will not enter
into a third world war.
The conflicts that occurred after World War II-the Cold War, the Korean
War, the Vietnam War, the Arab-Israeli conflict, and the Gulf War-are
among the most critical events of our time. Likewise, regional wars,
conflicts and civil wars, have caused destruction in many parts of the
world. In places such as Bosnia, Palestine, Chechnya, Afghanistan, Kashmir
and many others, problems continue to afflict humanity.Another
instance of a type of "chaos" that concerns human beings as much as
war is organized international terror. As authorities on the subject
also agree, acts of terror have multiplied in the latter half of the
twentieth century.5 Indeed, it is even possible
to say that terror is a phenomenon particular to the twentieth century.
Organizations devoted to racism, communism and similar ideologies, or
with nationalistic aims, have engaged in acts of brutality with the
help of the developing technology.
Within the world's recent history, acts of terror have, time and again,
fomented chaos. Much blood has been shed and countless innocent people
have been maimed or killed. But still, humanity has not learned its
lesson from these tragic events.
  
In the hadiths, the Prophet (saas) described
the wars and terror that now engulf the world, and related that these
things are signs of the Last Day. Today, in every part of the world,
conflicts, regional as well as civil wars are pervasive. |
  
Many countries of the world struggle with
acts of terror perpetrated by their own citizens. In places like
Chechnya, mass graves (right) can be found, and elderly persons,
children and babies are made to suffer. This terror and conflict
concerns all of us and must be considered as among the signs of the
Last Day. These events that have been predicted in the hadiths are
an occasion for everyone to consider and from which to learn a lesson. |
In many places in the world, terror continues to be the roots of acts
of murderous anarchy.
There are a number of verses of the Qur'an relevant to this subject.
In Surat ar-Rum, it is stated that confusion has come upon the earth
because of what human beings have wrought:
Corruption has appeared in both land and sea
because of what people's own hands have brought about so that they may
taste something of what they have done so that hopefully they will turn
back. (Surat ar-Rum: 41)
We must add that this verse is to remind us of a very important truth.
The pain and misery that arises from the mistakes human beings make
are a kind of opportunity to assist them in turning away from these
errors.
In short, we are now living in that age of confusion and disorder
in which yet another sign of the End Times is manifested. This sign
is a stern warning that people should begin immediately to live their
lives according to the moral teachings of the Qur'an.
 
 
The fact that the signs related in the hadiths
of the Messenger of Allah (as) are coming true, and the fact that
our world is full of scenes like these is a warning for humanity
to return to the moral teaching of the Qur'an. |
  
In the Qur'an, Allah reveals that human beings
have brought evil upon themselves. The problems in the world today
is a proof of this... |
  
The condition in which people find themselves
in the world today is an important opportunity for them to consider
the chaos in which they live, and to learn a lesson from it and turn
away from their error. |
The Destruction of Great Cities: Wars and Disasters
One of the pronouncements given to us by the Prophet (saas) about
the End Times is the following:
Great cities will be ruined and it will be as if they had not existed
the day before.(Al-Muttaqi al-Hindi, Al-Burhan fi Alamat al-Mahdi Akhir
al-Zaman)
In the hadiths, it is revealed that, in the
End Times, big cities will be destroyed as if they had never existed.
In the past century, many cities were destroyed in such a manner.
Only two examples here suffice, Hiroshima after the atom bomb (above),
and several cities in Chechnya. (right) |
Experts maintain that the worst natural disaster
the world has known was Hurricane Mitch in Central America in 1998. |
The ruin of great cities spoken of in this hadith brings to mind the
destruction that now arises from war and various natural disasters.
Recently developed nuclear weapons, aircraft, bombs, missiles, and other
modern weapons, have caused untold destruction. These terrible weapons
have brought about a degree of destruction never before seen. Indeed,
the great cities targeted are most affected by this destruction. The
incomparable destruction of the Second World War is an example of this.
With the use of the atom bomb in world's greatest war, Hiroshima and
Nagasaki were completely destroyed. As a result of heavy bombing, European
capitals and other important cities suffered a great amount of damage.
The Encyclopedia Britannica describes the damage caused to European
cities by World War II:
The resulting devastation had turned much of Europe
into a moonscape: cities laid waste or consumed by fire storms, the
countryside charred and blackened, roads pitted with shell holes or
bomb craters, railways out of action, bridges destroyed or truncated,
harbors filled with sunken, listing ships. "Berlin," said General Lucius
D. Clay, the deputy military governor in the U.S. zone of postwar Germany,
"was like a city of the dead."6 In short, the
unprecedented destruction caused by the Second World War conforms entirely
to that described in the hadith of the Prophet (saas).
Another cause of
the destruction of major cities is natural disasters. It is a statistical
fact that the age in which we live has seen an increase in both the
number and the seriousness of natural disasters. In the last ten years,
disasters caused by climactic changes are a novel phenomenon. A dangerous
and unwanted by-product of industry is global warming. Industry is gradually
disturbing the balance in the world's atmosphere, giving rise to climactic
changes. The year of 1998 was the hottest on earth since records have
been kept.7
According to the information of the American National Climate Data Center,
the greatest number of weather-related disasters occurred in 1998.8
For example, Hurricane Mitch has been referred to by a number of observers
as the world's worst natural disaster ever to strike Central America.9
In the last few years, hurricanes, storms, typhoons and other such
disasters have had a destructive effect on the American continent as
well as in several other places in the world. In addition, floods have
caused mudslides, which have engulfed certain centers of population.
Furthermore, earthquakes, volcanoes and tidal waves have also caused
great devastation. Therefore, all this destruction brought on upon the
great cities by these calamities is an important sign in each case.
  
In the last century, a great number of disasters
have occurred. In numerous countries, destruction has taken place
as a result of which millions have lost their lives. These events
are a striking parallel to that mentioned in the hadiths as signs
of the End Times. People should now take lessons from these occurrences
and adopt the moral teachings of the Qur'an. |
2001 CAME WITH DISASTERS
The twentieth century is most frequently characterized as the century
of disasters. Many deaths were caused by natural disasters such as
earthquakes, hurricanes and floods; while many others were caused
by civil war, conflicts and by great accidents on the sea and in
the air. And this situation has remained unchanged in the first years
of the twentyfirst century. The destruction of cities and the annihilation
of its peoples appears in the hadiths as signs of the Last Day. |
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2001 CAME WITH DISASTERS
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USA
11 persons of the same family died in a fire. In a fire in California,
at least 2320 hectares of land was destroyed and thousands of people
left their homes.
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NORTHERN EUROPE
The coldest weather ever seen grasped Denmark, northern Germany,
Norway and Sweden, many traffic accidents occurred, public transportation
came to a halt.
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HOLLAND
9 people died in a cafeteria fire.
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POLAND
28 people froze to death.
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THE UKRAINEA
Ukrainian ship sank in the Black Sea, 20 people died.
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RUSSIA
150 people froze to death.
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COLOMBIA
A clash between leftists and rightists, and conflicts caused 116
deaths.
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SPAIN
A train collided with a van on the tracks. 11 people died. ETA's
terrorism continues.
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FRANCE
6 people die in a fire.
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GERMANY
4 people die in a plane crash.
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BOSNIA HERZEGOVINA
16 people die in a bus accident.
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CHINA
56 people die in sea accidents, 21 die in two plane accidents and
37 are killed in a methane explosion.
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COSTA RICA
23 persons died over New Year's.
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ALGERIA
59 die in five assaults, and 8 die in skirmishes.
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ITALY
4 people died while celebrating the New Year, more than 800 were
injured by fireworks.
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KAZAKHISTAN
The temperature falls to 52 degrees below zero, 4 people die.
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THE MIDDLE EAST
Violent skirmishes between Israel and Palestine.
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CHECHNYA
50 die in bloody skirmishes.
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THE SEA OF OMAN
A Pakistani vessel sank, 35 people die.
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AFGHANISTAN
In 10 days, more than 700 Afghans died of hypothermia.
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KOREA
10 die in a snow storm
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EL SALVADOR
2000 die in an earthquake.
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EQUADORE
A tanker run aground off the Galapagos Islands
released hundreds of tons of oil into the sea. It was an environmental
disaster that shocked the whole world.
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BRAZIL
Hundreds of people are injured in a fight that broke out in a square
in Sao Paolo where 1 million people were celebrating the New Year.
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SUDAN
22 persons die in a minibus accident.
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HONDURAS
24 persons were killed, most of them with firearms.
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PARAGUAY
In a month and a half 33 people were murdered, or died as the result
of traffic accidents, electrocution, and drowning.
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THE CONGO
50 dead in a train accident.
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ZAMBIA
A ship sank claiming 16 lives.
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SOUTH AFRICA
70 die of cholera, 14 die after being struck by lightening.
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VENEZUELA
24 passengers died in an airplane accident.
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IRAN
18 die in a snow storm.
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KENYA
30 villagers die in an attack by cattle thieves.
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PAKISTAN
24 die in a bus accident, 15 in a train accident.
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ETHIOPIA
7 fall victim to religious clashes.
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MOZAMBIQUE
8000 people homeless after violent rain storms.
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INDIA
More than 30 thousand die in an earthquake that measured 7.9 on the
Richter Scale, 125 die of hypothermia and 4 die in a helicopter accident.
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BANGLADESH
31 persons die of hypothermia and 250 perish in traffic accidents.
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JAPAN
No day passes without an earthquake.
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SRI LANKA
108 people die in clashes.
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THE PHILIPPINES
Violent rain storms paralyze the economy.
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Natural disasters, which have not been preventable
despite advances in modern technology, have shown just how helpless
humanity can be. Earthquakes, mudslides, volcano eruptions, floods,
and especially the destruction of large cities, are all important
signs. |
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Introduction
